Date: June 7, 2008
Location: Clay Pit
Time: 6:30pm
Duration of date: 1 hrs 15 min
Occupation: Architect
Age: 28

He emailled me first. He was interested in cooking together (this sounded a little pervy). We emailled about how awesome Cook’s Illustrated was. I thought that this dude was a foodie and might be interesting.

So we met for an early dinner at Clay Pit. Dinner was tasty. The company wasn’t so great. When he spoke he sounded like Napoleon Dynomite. He was beyond awkward and he was clueless on dining in Austin. He’s been in Austin for 3 years and claims that there aren’t any restaurants that serve fresh foods (Casa de Luz anyone?). He is not a foodie. A foodie would know that the majority of the good restaurants in town have options for vegetarians on the menu. If not, then they will make you something special.

At least I got my indian food. Dinner ended awkwardly (you know I didn’t let this one pay for diner). We hung out after paying but the waitstaff kept staring at us, hoping we were leaving so they could seat more people.

We walked outside and headed to our cars. I was able to finish the date with the “handshake-and-run” approach. I called the Arab and ended up getting margaritas with him and the Jew. That was a much better way to spend an evening.

Date: May 24, 2008
Location: His House

So I gave the artist a second chance. I figured that he must be lonely. He doesn’t really fit the stalker or the player MO.

We were supposed to go to the museum the week before but he was sick. I went over after dinner with friends. We watched “Four Eyed Monsters” and made out on the couch. This time we were both sober. My shirt came off pretty quickly. He marched me to his bed and more making out.

Once again, the date ended with the sleepover debate. I left. I know the dangers of spooning.

We kept in touch for a little while. His phone is frequently cut off and he has disappeared a few times. He popped up later on MySpace but I didn’t respond.

Date: May 9, 2008
Location: His House
Time: 9:30pm
Duration of date: ~6 hrs
Occupation: Restaurant/Artist
Age: 35

I’d actually been emailling this dude through FastCupid (his on the Onion Personals) since February. It started with talk of a game of truth or dare. We talked on the phone a few times. He was really sweet. Then he disappeared for a month. He had a family emergency. Then he popped up again and wanted to hang out.

Based on the fact that he was an artist and worked in a restaurant (and the dirty email and phone conversations) I figured that he would be a pretty easy NSA target.

So, I went to his house at 9:30 on a Friday (my first non-weeknight date). We talked. We drank some wine on his front porch out of Styrofoam cups (he just moved in). I could tell that he had had a head start in the drinking dept. I wasn’t sure how much though. He called me out for being uncomfortable around him. He asked why I couldn’t look him in the eye.

We talked about tattoos. When I said that I didn’t have any, he said that he would draw one for me and he traced the place on my arm where he thought it should go. A little spooky but I fell for it. We went inside. We danced in the living room. We ended up on the couch and we sat and talked with his head in my lap. We laughed at the many drunk phone calls that M made to me that night.

We ended up making out on the couch. All of a sudden, he’s telling me that I am beautiful. Anyways, we talk some more then I end up on his bed (clothes still on, I am not Megan). We listen to music and continue making out. Things progress, we fooled around a bit, I somehow ended up topless and we debated having sex. He said that he wasn’t goingto have sex with me. (part of me trusted him, part of me didn’t). He actually kept his word.

Then things got a little weird. In between the fooling around, he told me that he was starting to fall for me. He held me and we end up spooning and I almost fell asleep there. Then I told him that I needed to go home. I needed to sleep in my bed. He told me that I should stay and fall asleep with him. It was late and I shouldn’t drive home (no worries, I was sober). He told me to call or text him when I got home. (this was around 4am).

Part of me wanted to stay. Its been over a year since anyone has paid that kind of attention to me. Part of me wanted to run the hell out of there and never come back. I ended up leaving (I made sure that I didn’t leave anything there).

He sent me 2 text messages the next day. The first said good morning. The second was sent an hour later with a “?” I guess he was hoping that I would call. I told him last night that I was busy this weekend. I blew him off today. I am not sure if/when I will call back.

I am mildly attracted to him. I have a feeling the sex would be good. But I don’t see him getting along with my friends or anything long term. So far, only the grad student seems to fit that description.

I wasn’t sure what do do about this dude. M thought that he may be the scary stalker type. The Arab said to run away. Keely said to give the guy a second chance.

Date: March 26, 2008
Location: Flight Path
Time: 8:00pm
Duration of date: 2 hrs 30 mins
Occupation: Film Maker
Age: 27

He found me on FastCupid (he is on the Onion Personals). He googled me and found my blog and he decided that he wanted to meet me. He was volunteering for SXSW and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up then. We sent a few text messages back and forth but never met up during the festival. Then I got the ear infection from hell. A few weeks later we arranged to meet up at Flight Path on a Wednesday (non-committal date night).

He did most of the questioning (pretty common when I am not really interested in the dude). We talked movies and music. He asked me out my job. I barely remember the date. That is how uneventful it was.

He walked me to my car. The date ended in the standard awkward hug.

Date: January 13, 2008
Location: Draught House
Time: 7pm
Duration of date: 2 hrs 15 mins
Occupation: Grad Student
Age: 29

First of all, I wasn’t physically attracted to him. He has a Conan O’Brien face (you know, where everything is in the middle of the face). It didn’t help that I was totally distracted by the hot dude that was sitting at the table next to us. I will now admit that I am still trying to get over my hot Ryan thing. I need to lower the bar if I am ever going to date someone again.

Not bad. I had one beer, he had 2. I think I did most of the talking and he asked more questions. I was trying to avoid being the interrogator. Besides, I had no real desire to get into his pants so I didn’t have to ask as many questions (Meg’s prerequisite).

We chatted about school, bikes, stormwater and wetlands (he mentioned something about birdwatching), cats, the Drafthouse, the internet, and how music is reaching broader audiences because of the internet making music more accessible.

One interesting question was, “how did I get into online dating?”. I told him about M and Meg’s summer of fun on Nerve.com. I told him that I came into a lot of points on Nerve because they deleted my profile and I was compensated with 3000 points and I finally decided to use them before they were taken away. He used to be part of the FastCupid service through the Chronicle but now he is on the Onion personals. He asked why I chose him to go out with (let me count the ways: non-smoker,older than my little sister, that didn’t appear to be a complete d-bag
with 2 kitties was very appealing) and I said that his profile looked good and having cats is a big plus in my book.

The date ended with a handshake.

The next day he emailled to thank me for meeting up with him and he apologized for not conveying all the charm and sense of humor of which he is capable of. He hoped that I felt my time was well spent. He asked me out for lunch. I had scheduling conflicts. Lunch never happened and he was never heard from again.

Date: April 16, 2008
Location: Opal Divine’s
Time: 7:30pm
Duration of date: 2 hrs 30 mins
Occupation: Race Car Driver/Musician/Auto Mechanic
Age: 29

I met him on the internet. We talked about where we grew up. Apparently he has a degree in Environmental Sciences and made an attempt to get into the industry. He ended up working as a mechanic and never went back. We talked about how Austin has changed over the years. He is a musician so we talked about that for awhile. He asked a lot of questions. I didn’t ask that many (I was interested but the 2 beers were kicking in. It was about that time when I started thinking about the illusive grad student. I couldn’t even think about making out with this dude). He owns his house. He has a cat (all good things).

Towards the end of the date, he shifted the discussion to online dating. I explained the difficulties of meeting people when you don’t leave the house. Apparently he doesn’t get out much either.

The date ended awkwardly with a handshake in the parking lot.

Later, I realized later that I didn’t have his number but he had mine. I never heard from him.

I stalked him on the internet later. His band wasn’t that great.

So I decided to take the plunge and start posting the entries on the 17. I know I said that I would wait until the end of the project but I figured that reaching the halfway point in July was a pretty big accomplishment. Internet worthy even. Especially since I did it by only counting one date per person.

I hit a plateau not too long ago and it reminded me why I set out on this journey in the first place. I did it to work out some personal issues. I’ve built this giant wall around myself and I knew that in order to grow as a person I really need to let people in. I had to learn how to share and trust in order to lighten that emotional load. I think that I’ve got it down to one of those little train cases.

Date: February 20, 2008
Location: His House
Time: 8:15pm
Duration of date: 2 hrs 15 mins
Occupation: Media/Design/Web Marketing?
Age: 35

This guy sent me a random message on MySpace. He had seen my profile and thought that I was interesting. He just come off of a nine-month trip to South America. After checking his profile out I told him that I wouldn’t mind hearing about his trip over a beer.

I set up a beer date for Wednesday evening (non-committal date night). When I called he had just come back from a run and didn’t really feel like being out. He said that I was welcome to come over.

I ended up going over there (I’ve seen “To Catch a Predator” and I did it anyway). We talked for a long time. The discussion was on politics, our families, a lot of random stuff. We talked about how the subject of race was brought out into the spotlight with the recent presidential debates. He asked some weird questions. He asked when the last time I had a boyfriend was and had I ever lived with a boyfriend. When I answered that it had been over 2 years since I had a boyfriend he asked if I had kept a lover in the interim.

SCARY DUDE. These are not first date questions. I was also a little weirded out when he threw in the “you are more beautiful than I had expected.”

Something was a little off about this guy. He was definitely ADD.

The date ended with an awkward hug. I never heard from him again.

I am still in, the Arab is still in, not sure who else is still working on the quest. Some how I managed to get ahead of everyone else (unless the Arab starts counting people more than once).

Since the last update…

1. I have gone on a few non-Wednesday dates.
2. There have been 2 dinner dates (I have yet to scam dinner off someone. I could have but decided that it was a bad idea).
3. One date was a meager 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was an early dinner (M revised the rules for dates during meals).
4. Only one of the dates was found organically. He picked me up in a bar with a cheesy pick up line.

As far as the next few dates go, the Arab has agreed to be my “Yoda”. I will study under him and be his pivot.

So, I am still in. Many others have bailed. I can’t spill all the details on what has happened since January. I can’t tell you how far I have made it in the quest (you will just have to wait until I am done). I can tell you the following:

1. Most of the dates have been on Wednesday night. Totally coincidental. I am not trying to make Wednesday the new Friday.
2. The common location would be in a coffee shop (some in the same coffee shop).
3. Average date is 2 hours and 15 minutes (I haven’t been able to go on a lunch date yet so the date is supposed to be at least 2 hours).
4. Most dates were found on the internet.
5. Most dates have ended with an awkward hug and no repeat date.
6. I have conducted internet research on almost all the dates prior to meeting them.
7. Most dates are younger than me and do not own property.

Stay tuned. One of these days I will post all the details.